Toyota, the third-large automaker by unit sales in the U.S., has made a $1 million donation to Yellowstone National Park’s Yellowstone Park Foundation, which will be used to support the development of a more energy efficient Youth Campus.
The Yellowstone Youth Campus, designed by Portland, Ore.-based Hennebery Eddy Architects, will be a home for immersive, youth-oriented programming within the park. The on-campus buildings also aspire to be the first in a national park to achieve Living Building Challenge certification, whose design and construction standards integrate ecology, cultural heritage, stewardship, sustainability, and leadership.
Details about the upgrading of the Youth Campus—such as its total cost, and when construction is expected to start and finish—have yet to be made public. The architect and Toyota deferred questions to the park’s public affairs office, which was unable to provide BD+C with more information about the plans.
Toyota released the news about its donation to align with the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service this year. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill into law on March 1, 1872 that established Yellowstone National Park as the world’s first national park.
What’s known is this: once the design is finalized, the campus’s Youth Conservation Corps, which consists of two buildings, will be razed. New buildings will be far more energy efficient, thanks to high-performance insulation and windows, natural ventilation, and other passive measures. Only nontoxic and low VOC building materials and furnishings will be used.
Solar will provide more than 100% of the campus’s energy needs. All of the water used by the campus will be locally sourced, and wastewater will be treated onsite for reuse.
Once completed, the buildings will serve as the home for two youth programs: Expedition Yellowstone, which brings in grade-school aged kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods for a weeklong residential experience; and Youth Conservation Corps, a month-long immersive summer program for high schoolers. The new facilities— which will include four classrooms, residential buildings, and staff housing—will serve twice the campus’s current student capacity. (The Yellowstone public affairs office could not provide its current student count.)
The Youth Campus will include classrooms and residences, and have room to double its current student enrollment. Image: Hennebery Eddy Architects
“The new Yellowstone Youth Campus is an opportunity to support the conservation principles of the National Park Service, while reinforcing Toyota’s commitment to the environment,” said Toyota Motor North America Environmental General Manager Kevin Butt. “We hope this environmental learning center will inspire and empower future leaders in building a more culturally aware, ecologically responsible and regenerative future.”
Toyota has donated to Yellowstone before, most notably $1 million to the Foundation to help build the new Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, which opened in 2010. The carmaker last year collaborated with the Lamar Buffalo Ranch, which is located in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, by donating a set of Camry hybrid car batteries that were integrated into the ranch’s new renewable energy array.
One of the purposes of the Youth Campus is to give young Americans a better appreciation of nature and conservation. Image: Hennebery Eddy Architects.
Related Stories
Cultural Facilities | Jun 10, 2022
After 10 Years, Taiwan’s new Taipei Music Center Reaches the Finish Line
RUR Architecture has finished the Taipei Music Center (TMC), turning a 22-acre (9-hectare) site into a new urban arts district.
Projects | Mar 24, 2022
A Hollywood home for creatives
A Hollywood development will serve as a collaborative center for artists, students, and those in the entertainment industry.
Cultural Facilities | Mar 10, 2022
A ‘reimagined’ David Geffen Hall in New York is on track to open this fall
Its half-billion-dollar reconstruction is positioning this performance space as an integral key to luring people to the city again.
Performing Arts Centers | Mar 8, 2022
Cincinnati Ballet’s new center embodies the idea that dance is for everyone
Cincinnati Ballet had become a victim of its own success, according to company president and CEO Scott Altman. “We were bursting at the seams in our old building. We had simply outgrown the facility,” Altman told the Cincinnati Enquirer.
University Buildings | Feb 18, 2022
On-campus performing arts centers and museums can be talent magnets for universities
Cultural facilities are changing the way prospective students and parents view higher education campuses.
Resiliency | Feb 15, 2022
Design strategies for resilient buildings
LEO A DALY's National Director of Engineering Kim Cowman takes a building-level look at resilient design.
Cultural Facilities | Jan 27, 2022
Growth in content providers creates new demand for soundstage facilities
Relativity Architects' Partner Tima Bell discusses how the explosion in content providers has outpaced the availability of TV and film production soundstages in North America and Europe.
Cultural Facilities | Jan 18, 2022
A building in Times Square aspires to be a marketing and arts tool
The 580-ft TSX Broadway will have several LED signs on its exterior, and host an existing 27,000-sf theater that was hoisted 30 ft above street level.
Cultural Facilities | Dec 16, 2021
Museums and other cultural spaces reconsider how to serve their communities
Efforts to raise capital for cultural buildings became necessary during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Giants 400 | Nov 19, 2021
2021 Cultural Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. cultural facilities sector
Gensler, AECOM, Buro Happold, and Arup top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2021 Giants 400 Report.